


We Are All Captured Beasts

by Maab_Connor



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, PoW, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-28
Updated: 2011-07-28
Packaged: 2017-10-21 20:59:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/229791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maab_Connor/pseuds/Maab_Connor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Daniel are gravely injured and captured offworld by an inhuman enemy.  How will they get home?  How can they hope to continue to hide the secret love they hold for each other when there might not be a later?</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Are All Captured Beasts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theresa_cho](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=theresa_cho).



> Eternal thanks to my two betas who stepped up due to awesome friendship even though this isn’t her fandom. And to who is a new fandom friend and without whom this fic would not exist.
> 
> The title of this fic comes from a poem of the same name by Fyodor Sologub.

**Title:** We Are All Captured Beasts  
 **Author:** maab_connor  
 **Summary:** Jack and Daniel are gravely injured and captured offworld by an inhuman enemy. How will they get home? How can they hope to continue to hide the secret love they hold for each other when there might not be a later?  
 **Word Count:** about 13k  
 **Rating:** NC-17  
 **Disclaimer:** I do not own SG-1, if I did it would still be on the air and we would have canon slash… and apparently a lot of whumpage too. Also, since I cannot keep a word count down, CotG would have taken 17 hours to show. The title of this fic comes from a poem of the same name by Fyodor Sologub.  
 **Written For:** tresa_cho  
 **Prompt:** Two (2) Requirements:1. hurt/comfort 2. hostage situation Optional Request: first time Restriction #1: Sam-bashing Restriction #2: character death  
 **Notes:** Eternal thanks to my two betas ladymorgana13 who stepped up due to awesome friendship even though this isn’t her fandom. And to callygal1 who is a new fandom friend and without whom this fic would not exist.

 

~~~~~~~

“Johansson!” Jack called into his radio as too-close explosions rained soil down from above. “Johansson, come in damn it!” He laid down as much cover fire as he could with only his sidearm; he’d expended his P90 and the C4 was long gone. Carter and Teal’c were covering the gate just under a klick away; Daniel was beside him, firing wildly with his zat with one hand and putting as much pressure on his slashed femoral artery as he was possibly able to. “Carter?”

“Yes sir,” she shouted back, the sound of heavy fire behind her as well.

“Sit rep.”

“Teal’c and I are holding the gate, sir. Taking heavy fire.”

“Your haste would be most appreciated, O’Neill,” Teal’c said.

Jack was just about to come back with a scathingly witty retort when he heard Daniel scream his name.

Everything went black.

~~~

Daniel woke in darkness that was so black he wasn’t entirely sure he’d actually regained consciousness. The pain made him realize that he had; being unconscious was blissful, this… was agony. His head was throbbing, every beat of his heart making his hair hurt. His thigh, where he’d caught a piece of shrapnel that had made him think _this is it… again_ was burning from hip to knee, the muscle contorting as his body writhed. He felt like he was burning alive from the inside; fever had set in. He wondered how it was he hadn’t bled out by now and managed to inch his left hand over to his injured thigh; the leg of his BDUs had been cut off and his artery and the surrounding flesh had been clumsily patched back together, but from the heat of his muscle and the fever that was wreaking havoc through his system, he knew that infection had set in. If this was all the better the medical technology of his captors, he knew he would have been better off left untended; bleeding out wasn’t supposed to hurt, dying of infection however…

Right, he’d been with SG-1 long enough, he knew the routine; he forced his way through the panic of _holy shit, I’m dying… again_ and into the mindset of a Spec Ops trained soldier. What do I have? What do I need? _A fucking aspirin_. They’d taken the time to patch him up, so they needed him alive for something, that gave him a toe-hold. But they’d done a really shit job of it; so either they didn’t need him alive for long, or they didn’t really understand human physiology. His mind flashed through a flipbook of the fragments of language that he’d managed to make out on the ruins, he’d been so excited because it was something he’d never seen before; one of the few truly alien languages he’d come across. It was completely possible that they weren’t even humanoid.

God, he was tired. The more he tried to make sense of the fragmented information in his fevered mind, the further away it seemed to be and the harder it was to stay conscious.

~~~

Jack was thrown roughly back into his cell; honestly, he was happy to have the pincers off of him. This was the third time he’d been dragged off to their torture chamber – he almost had the way memorized – and he still hadn’t seen any signs of Daniel; he didn’t even know if Carter and Teal’c were hidden away somewhere in the maze of corridors or if they’d managed to get back through the gate. He had seen them dragging Johansson’s lifeless corpse passed his cell before they’d come to get him the last time; these bastards were willing to kill.

The worst part was –not that there were any good parts- he had no idea what they wanted, they spoke in a series of clicks and squeaks, they were like giant insects without any facial features he was able to discern. They stood on four legs, a set coming out of each of their two lower sections; their bodies turned at a ninety degree angle and a set of arms came out of this torso section, ending in cold, sharp pincers for hands; their heads were large and square-shaped with dark bulbous eyes. Seven years of going through the gate three times a week and the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet having him on speed dial and Jack was still pretty sure he’d never seen a species so alien.

They came to get him every few hours, their strength reminding him of middle school biology when Miss Trudy had taught them all about how ants could lift fifty times their own body weight; those pincers were so sharp and their strength so great that his biceps would be bleeding by the time they got him to the chamber. They would throw him onto a table and start poking and prodding, their clicking and squeaking would pick up until his head was ringing; they would beat him and cut him, take his blood, twist his joints – three fingers were broken and his shoulder had been dislocated, he counted himself lucky once he’d seen Johansson.

He was always tired inside the complex, always short of breath, he couldn’t concentrate; he didn’t know if it was something his captors needed to breathe or if it was something they were purposefully pumping into the ventilation system for the cells; but he knew that there was something wrong with the air and it was keeping him slow and stupid and exhausted. He kept trying to come up with an escape plan, he’d never gotten very far before he would pass out again, only to be woken a few hours later and dragged off to start all over again.

By his foggy count and beard growth, twelve days had past. The next day, lucky number thirteen, they dragged him off in a different direction.

The scent of infection hit him as the door of the other cell was opened, it made him gag; then he saw where the scent was coming from, a body laying prone on the floor, skin pale and chest rattling in quick breaths.

“Daniel!” he said in a startled, strangled whisper. He pulled himself away from the restraining pincers without a single thought as to how his flesh was ripped from the effort; he skidded to his bruised and swollen knees and framed Daniel’s pale, sweaty face in his hands, but he couldn’t deny who it was behind the scraggly beard. “Daniel?” fear crept into his voice as his heart raced in his chest. “Daniel, can you hear me?”

“Jack?” was asked in a raspy whisper. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I have no idea. They brought me in.” He nodded toward the door where the guard was standing, his exoskeleton-covered frame taking up the entire space. Jack’s hands were moving over Daniel's overheated body. “What happened? Talk to me.”

Daniel took a few deep breaths to get some force behind his voice. “The shrapnel that hit my artery, they patched it, but it got infected.” A cough wracked his body, deep and wet.

Without even thinking about it, Jack rolled Daniel over onto his right side so that he wouldn’t drown or gag on the sputum that came up.

“Sorry,” Daniel said.

“Don’t you worry about anything.”

“Sam and Teal’c?”

“Haven’t seen them. Hopefully they got out.”

“Who have you seen?” Daniel asked.

“You mean besides the revenge of the ant colony Frank Fitzpatrick and I set on fire when we were ten?”

Daniel did manage a small smile. “Yeah besides that.”

Jack sobered a little bit. “We lost Johansson.”

“Damn.” He coughed again.

“You got water in here?”

“Doesn’t last, I’m thirsty all the time.”

“You’re fighting the infection, it seems normal enough. But then I get the feeling that these bugs don’t know a lot about us.”

“Is that what you think they’re doing?” Daniel asked. “Figuring us out?”

Jack looked down at the broken fingers and assorted cuts and bruises he’d accumulated in the last two weeks, “Yeah. And right now, I need to get you fixed up.” He turned to the guard. “I need water,” he mimed drinking from a cup, “lots of water. Please tell me you can understand that. Lots of water.”

The guard turned and walked out, closing the door.

“Way to be a linguist back there,” Jack joked.

“If you’d been paying attention back at the ruins, you would know that their language doesn’t have a derivation on Earth.”

Jack smiled, Daniel might be really sick, but if he was snarking then he was going to be ok.

The door opened and another guard came in. It gave a series of quick clicks and tilted its head to the side.

“Water,” Jack mimed again and then tapped his tongue. “We need water, a whole hell of a lot.”

“Jack, they don’t understand,” Daniel said.

Jack kept eye contact with the enormous, emotionless eyes of the alien. He patted Daniel gently on the shoulder. “He had a pack.” Jack put his hands behind his back where their kits usually rested. He did it over and over. “His pack. We need his pack. And water.”

“Jack, what the hell are you doing?”

“You had the med kit. And besides, you’re the one who was making chicken noises to his father-in-law and playing airplane with the talking plant people. Just shut up and let me do this.” He went back to his mime repetition.

The alien made another series of clicks with a long screech at the end. Then it pivoted and left.

“If that worked…” Daniel said, panting for breath.

“I’ll have your undying gratitude?”

“Well, I am good at undying.”

Jack smiled, “Yeah you are.” He shifted up to kneel by Daniel’s head. “C’mere, we need to lift your head, it’ll help you breathe.” He took most of Daniel’s weight onto his own swollen, throbbing hands and shifted slowly so that Daniel’s shoulders were resting on his thighs. “Good job, Daniel. Now take a few deep breaths.”

Daniel couldn’t help the moan that escaped him as he was able to relax just a little.

“That helping?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” He welcomed even the foul-tasting air of the cell as he was able to finally fill his lungs. “Is it just me, or is there something funny about this air?”

“Must be the air, your timing is horrible.”

Daniel’s shoulders shook in a silent chuckle.

“Nah, I noticed. Can’t figure out if it’s what they breathe or if they’re trying to keep us slow and dumb.”

Daniel nodded. “I’m about to take a nap.”

“How often have you been losing consciousness?”

“The better question is how often have I been conscious,” Daniel said, his speech starting to slur.

“Get some rest, I’ll wake you up when your delivery comes from the pharmacy.”

“Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.”

“Hey, you’ve been without my witty repartee for nearly two weeks, gotta catch you up.”

Daniel’s eyes were closed but he was smiling as he said, “Uh huh.”

Jack didn’t let his fear show until he knew for sure Daniel was truly asleep. If their alien captors didn’t bring water, enough not only to hydrate Daniel, but also enough to bathe him and bring his fever down, then… he didn’t even want to think about it. He’d always known that Daniel died way too many times; not that Jack himself had never died, hell he’d flat lined the first time when he was fifteen and stole his dad’s motorcycle and lost control over the ravine, he woke up seventeen hours later in the ICU with his mother crying her eyes out. Since then, by his count, he’d died four times in forty nine years. Daniel was thirty eight and had died –by Jack’s count- no less than twelve times. Jack’s sigh shook as he thought, _Lucky number thirteen._

Daniel had been sleeping for about fifteen minutes when the door was opened again and the second guard came back in with two others. Jack could have cried with joy when he saw it carrying Daniel’s pack. One of the others had a large container of water and the third stayed at the door.

“Thank you,” Jack said over and over.

They backed out of the room and the door was locked again.

“Daniel, wake up.”

“J’ck?” he answered, his voice thick with exhaustion.

“Yeah, I need you to wake up, it worked.”

“What worked?”

“They brought your pack and water.”

“Seriously? That worked?” He blinked awake.

“You don’t have to seem quite so shocked.”

“You didn’t see your miming,” Daniel returned. He gritted his teeth as Jack moved him to lay flat again, instantly he felt like someone was sitting on his chest, he couldn’t get air.

“Easy,” Jack said gently. “I just need to get the med kit and a few supplies out of your pack, then I’ll put it under you and prop you back up, ok?”

Daniel nodded and concentrated on breathing.

Jack rummaged through the pack and grabbed out the canteen and water purification tablets, the mess cup, the med kit, Daniel’s headlamp, a clean tee shirt, a clean BDU shirt, the emergency blanket and the shaving kit. He laid out the BDU shirt and put everything else on it, keeping them clean and off of the floor. He lifted Daniel back up by the shoulders and put the pack under him, lifting him back up. “Better?”

“Much, thanks,” Daniel said, gulping in air.

The first thing Jack did was fill the canteen from the large stone pot of water, he dropped in a tablet and shook it as he carried the canteen back to Daniel. “Here,” he took Daniel’s head in his arm as he brought the canteen to his lips. “Small sips, don’t gulp.”

Daniel took several small sips before pulling away from the canteen.

Jack closed it, set it aside, took a deep breath and got to work. With the headlamp he was finally able to get a good look at the mess of Daniel’s leg. He couldn’t help the quick gasp of sympathetic pain when he got a look at the ruined flesh of Daniel’s thigh. The wound was shoddily stitched and obviously infected; it was red and angry looking, the stitches pulling oddly on his flesh. He opened the med kit, found the loaded syringes of morphine, the foul-tasting antibiotic, and the emergency field surgery tools. “You’re in luck,” he said, holding up the first syringe of morphine, “I found the good stuff.”

“I’m not in that much pain, Jack.”

“Yeah… about that… I’m sorry, Daniel, but I have to debride the wound or by the time we get back they’re not gonna be able to save the leg.”

“By the time we get back?” Daniel laughed.

“Way to be positive.”

Daniel sighed lightly. “Walk me through it, pick up the tools you’ll need as you say you’ll need them; so wash your hands first.”

“I have done this before.”

“Not while I’ve been on SG-1.”

“True.”

“Humor me, Jack.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” He washed his hands and then Daniel’s wound with the surgical grade scrub and patted both dry with the clean tee. Then he took a deep breath and walked through the debridement, picking up each tool as he would need them, ending with threading the needle that he would use for the stitches. “You’ll have morphine the whole time with lidocaine injections around the wound itself. And we have the new antibacterial foam gun, so it shouldn’t get re-infected. Wean you off the morphine over the next day, keep the bandage clean and make sure you take the antibiotic. Am I missing anything?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“Are there any other major traumas? Broken bone that I missed? Anything?”

“No, but with the fever, make sure to keep me talking the whole time since you don’t have a way to monitor my blood pressure.”

“Like it’s hard to get you to talk,” Jack joked. He readied the first lidocaine syringe and injected all around the infected wound. Then he picked up the morphine. “Here goes nothing,” he said as he pushed the needle into Daniel’s shoulder and pressed the plunger down.

“Way to be positive,” Daniel snarked.

“Yeah, yeah. So… tell me about your first dig. Was it in Egypt?”

“It was,” Daniel said, his smile looking far away as the morphine kicked in.

“Tell me about it. How hot was it?”

Daniel talked for over an hour straight as Jack reopened the wound, cleaned the infection, cut away a small piece of necrotic muscle, cleaned it again, injected the foam and closed the wound again. Then Jack washed his hands and Daniel’s thigh of blood and bandaged the wound. He was mixing the antibiotic powder into a cup of water just as Daniel was talking about the first time his team had come across an unexploded land mine.

“Here, buddy, drink this.”

“You’re done already?”

“Be glad you don’t feel it now.” Jack held the cup to Daniel’s lips. “Drink it all.”

“I’m tired,” Daniel said after he’d drained the cup.

“Get some sleep. I’ll keep watch.”

Daniel was snoring softly by the time Jack finished saying the phrase.

~~~

Jack was barely able to keep his eyes open, the lack of air and the draining adrenaline were teaming up and taking their toll; but he refused to sleep until he knew for sure Daniel was going to be alright. He took Daniel’s pulse and monitored his breathing, checked the seepage of Daniel’s wounds and splinted his own broken fingers.

The first time Daniel opened his eyes was about twelve hours after the surgery, Jack had just given into the need to touch, the need to make sure Daniel was really there, the need for contact.

Bright blue eyes opened and met Jack’s chocolate brown, a small question hidden there.

Jack pulled his hand away like he’d been burned. “Ah… checking your fever. How ya feeling?”

“Tired,” Daniel answered, his voice thick with sleep.

Jack asked him a series of questions to gauge how he was feeling and then gave him his next dose of antibiotics and water to rehydrate. Daniel was asleep again within five minutes.

Jack reached out and touched Daniel’s shoulder, giving a light squeeze that could be seen as simply friendly. He curled up in a ball, his head next to Daniel’s and allowed himself a light sleep at long last.

~~~

During Daniel’s slow recovery, Jack was never once pulled from his side. They were given more water than either of them had in the past, their captors seeming to realize that they hadn’t had enough. The food rations were once a day and consisted of a sickly-sweet paste and leaves and berries; Jack gave Daniel half of his every day and never mentioned it.

They passed the time by playing word association games and trading months-old gossip from the SGC; they were always very careful not to say anything that could be used by anyone who was listening in.

Jack did push-ups and sit-ups as much as he could with the lower oxygen levels and beaten body, before he would collapse, panting on the floor. Daniel did calisthenics with his arms and his right leg, but most of his energy was spent in just trying to heal.

Every day, a few hours after their food rations were brought in, the captor who Jack had managed his rudimentary conversation with, came back in to see them. It would stand there and click at them for about twenty minutes; but at the end of every session all three of them were completely frustrated. The aliens were incapable of making the sounds for human speech and Jack and Daniel were incapable of making the sounds that the creature was making.

“What about the language?” Daniel said after a week.

“What about it?”

“Well, it was on the planet when we met them, maybe it’s theirs.”

“You sound way too psyched about that, Daniel.”

“I’m a linguist, Jack; this is an unheard of opportunity to find and translate a completely new language. And one that’s never been learned by a human before? I… I can’t even begin to quantify that.”

Jack smiled even as he said, “Geek,” without any malice. This was the first solid sign Jack had had that Daniel was mending, that he was going to make it; suddenly he felt like there was a massive weight off of his chest

Daniel narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything. He pulled his notebook out of his pack.

“I’m just saying… Chaka is going to be jealous. You’re cheating on him with that hot new alien on the block.”

“Jack?”

“Yes, Daniel?”

“Shut up.”

Jack was laughing softly as he started stretching to put in his workout.

~~~

Things continued like that for another week until their captor stopped coming in and trying to communicate.

The next day, Jack woke to a pair of pincers on his biceps; he tried to fight them off as they dragged him from the room, but even though he was able to breathe better in the putrid air, he still wasn’t able to match their strength. They held a weapon on Daniel the entire time, he still tried to move even after Jack ordered him not to and he got a blow to the gut for his trouble.

Jack was dragged back to the chamber where the poking and prodding continued.

~~~

It was far from the first time Daniel had been convinced that they were going to die here in this dark-as-night cell, but perhaps it was the worst; the last week had given him hope that if they could just communicate with the alien species… Well, none of that mattered now. He had taken his pack apart to splint Jack’s knee while he was still unconscious; it seemed like the nicest way to do it.

Jack had been brought back into the cell, he was unconscious and had obviously been beaten. And then Daniel noticed the swelling of Jack’s knee. Daniel had always known that Jack’s knees weren’t going to last much longer; it was only a matter of time before the ACL turned into a whopping case of debilitating arthritis and then a full knee replacement – probably two. But Jack had been – pardon the pun – soldiering on for so long now, that Daniel hadn’t even really thought of it for a while. That all changed now. Daniel knew now that Jack was never going through the gate again. He had to cut the BDU pants up over Jack’s knee before the swelling got too tight on the cotton and he couldn’t cut them without risking cutting Jack. The flesh was red and angry-looking and purpling with a deep bruise all around the kneecap.

Daniel didn’t have any ice, and he had a limited amount of acetaminophen; he wasn’t sure he could control the swelling at all. All that he could do was immobilize the joint and give Jack the limited meds they had.

He heaved a hacking cough, feeling the fluid rattling in his chest and that’s when he accepted it. _We’re going to die here_. He reached out and nearly ran his hand through Jack’s too-long hair; he pulled his hand back without touching. What would be the use in having Jack hate him for their last days?

~~~

Jack didn’t wake for hours and when he did, it was on the cusp of a flare of pain arcing through his ruined knee. Daniel was there beside him, gentle words in his ear, gentle hands on his arms. The canteen was pressed to his lips and he cooled his throat in deep gulps. “I saw it,” he said, hearing how broken his own voice sounds still.

“Saw what?” Daniel felt a momentary flash of panic.

Jack felt the smile on his lips as he remembered it. “Daylight.”

A spark of light flashed through Daniel’s eyes, the blue that had started to darken was suddenly bright again. “You know the way out?”

Jack just nodded.

Daniel smiled and sighed. “Get some sleep, you need to finish healing. I’ll work on a plan to get out of the cell.”

“We’re gonna have to run a three-legged-race to get out of here.”

Daniel nodded. “I know. Get some sleep, I’ll keep watch.” He watched over Jack closely until his breathing evened out again and he was truly asleep. Then Daniel went to the ruins of his pack and tried to formulate a plan.

It took nearly an hour, and just about all of the juice remaining in the battery of the headlamp, but Daniel was able to excavate the workings of the cell door. He memorized the interior of the panel as the lamp started to suffer from brown-outs. He hoped that it would work one last time when they were ready to make their escape, but if it didn’t Daniel was pretty sure he could find the right circuit to short to open the door…. Hopefully it wouldn’t also give him a massive coronary.

He armed himself with a pair of surgical scissors, figuring that Jack could do more damage with the scalpel since his overall knife skills were superior. He then repacked his backpack, thankful that he hadn’t taken off the straps to tie it to Jack’s leg, but that he’d shredded the remaining leg of his ruined BDU pants; without the bars, the weight would be awkward, but he could still strap it to himself and not have to worry about carrying it.

He made sure that by the time Jack woke up, everything would be ready to go.

~~~

Hours passed before Jack finally pulled himself back; he was pleased to see that Daniel had everything ready; but at the same time it drilled home yet again how much Daniel had changed in seven years. Daniel had gone from the wide-eyed optimist who always found another way, no matter what the odds; now he was more soldier than scientist and his optimism had been sacrificed on the altar of First Contact Team, the team who took more risks and more enemy fire and more time in alien dungeons…. It had all conspired to take that babbling geek who was so unsure of himself and lead him through what should have been the most amazing journey of self discovery, but instead had taken a left turn somewhere and given him a hard shell and a hard heart. And Jack hated himself for his part in it.

He’d known he loved Daniel long before he’d realized that he was _in love_ ; but both were there every moment of every day. He had spent so much time pushing Daniel away, sacrificing love as Daniel was sacrificing self. And now, laying on the cold stone floor of a dark cell on an alien world, about to run for their lives again; now, feeling the numbness that had set in under his kneecap and the pain that was radiating outward from that numbness like a starburst, he realized in a matter of moments that when he got the two of them safely through the gate and back to Earth, that was going to be the last time he went through the gate; now, with all of that weighing on him, and conversely all of that weight _off_ of him, he hated himself for accepting each compromise-turned-sacrifice. He hated it on behalf of both of them.

“You back with me?” Daniel asked from right beside him.

Jack smiled a small smile, “I’m always with you.”

“Let’s get you up off of that cold floor,” he could hear the smile and the softness in Daniel’s voice.

Daniel’s hands were strong but gentle as he helped Jack get to his feet.

“Jack?”

“Yeah Daniel?”

“Is there… an actual plan here, or are we just gonna… jury rig the door open, run for daylight and hope for the best?”

“You say that like it’s not an acceptable plan.”

“Sadly, it’s not the worst plan we’ve ever had.”

“Exactly. Here goes nothing.” Jack took the scalpel from Daniel’s hand and held it at the ready.

Daniel short circuited the door with minimal scorching of himself and only one joke from Jack about burnt toast. They helped hold each other’s weight, pushed through the door and ran as best as they could for daylight.

It really wasn’t the worst plan they’d ever utilized.

The guards they came up against were minimal, clearly an escape hadn’t been expected. The cold surgical steel of the scalpel and the scissors were actually very effective against their captors. Knowing that their weapons would be useless against the hard exoskeletons, both men stabbed for the bulging eyes and the few who stood against them were quickly dispatched.

Jack led the way to the steeply-sloped shaft to the surface and they both gritted their teeth, helped hold up the other, and went as fast as they could.

The clicking started when they were about ten feet from the top and both men put on an extra burst of speed to hit daylight.

They broke through and saw a group of trees a few meters away. Daniel tightened his grip on Jack’s waist, pulled him in tighter and kept the burst of speed going. He didn’t see the gate anywhere and he didn’t notice any specific path, so he turned them to the safety of the only cover available. Jack held on and forced himself to keep up despite the pain.

They went nearly a klick into the trees, Jack wasn’t able to put down his right foot anymore, Daniel just took the weight and kept going; but Jack knew that they were just about done.

“We gotta find cover,” he said.

Daniel was panting too hard to speak so instead he just nodded.

Jack spotted an outcropping of rock a few dozen yards away and nodded towards it; as one they turned. As luck would have it, there was a small crevasse that wasn’t visible from a distance, the entrance was a small sliver of shadow that opened into a larger cavern. It was the best cover they could have hoped for under the circumstances.

“OK,” Jack panted. “OK, so we’re out of the compound… bugs left behind… and we have cover.”

Daniel just nodded and sat down, his entire body screaming at him, his lungs and his still-injured thigh chief among the screams.

“Where the fuck is the gate?” Jack demanded of the air.

“You’re bleeding,” Daniel said, barely audible over the sound of his breath panting.

“What?”

“Your knee. Sit down and let me look at it.”

Jack looked down and saw that there was blood running down his leg. “Huh.”

“Let me look at it while the adrenaline is still pumping in your system.” Daniel reached out and helped Jack sit with the immobilized knee. Then he took off his pack and pulled out the quickly-dwindling med kit. When he got to look at Jack’s knee, he couldn’t help the sympathetic wince. He took a deep breath. “The swelling has opened a fissure at the back of your knee. It’s not bleeding badly, it’s more… weeping. Jack… the risk for infection with this… I… I don’t know if I can fix this.”

“There’s still some antibiotic foam, fill the fissure, wrap the knee… it’s the best we can do.”

“Jack-“

“Daniel, just do it.”

Daniel looked into Jack’s eyes and saw the fear and the determination and something else, unnamed and fleeting, were there. Daniel grit his teeth and did as Jack asked. “How bad is the pain? Do you need something?”

Jack shook his head no.

“Jack, we have pain killers, if you need them-“

“I can’t feel anything below the hip,” Jack admitted.

Daniel felt the words hit him like a Mac truck.

“We’ll rest here the night,” Jack said. “First light we’ll head out, try to find the gate.”

“Jack, you can’t, you push yourself too hard and you’re not going to keep the leg.”

“Daniel, I have to. If I don’t push myself… There’s not a choice here.”

Daniel bit back what he was going to say, pushed back the heartbreak that pushed a lump into his throat and just handed Jack the canteen. He didn’t mention the throbbing in his own leg; nor did he mention how hard still was to breathe.

 

~~~

The actual nighttime hours were short and Daniel woke with the light, feeling like he hadn’t slept at all. He realized two things very quickly: their captors weren’t far from their hidey hole and his fever was back.

Jack’s hand was on his shoulder, reassuring and quieting at the same time.

Daniel looked over and saw Jack’s face in the dim light. He reached up to his own shoulder and took hold of Jack’s hand. He was so overcome by fear, not just for himself, but for Jack as well; fear that Jack was going to be taken again, that they were going to take him away again and make him hurt and break him. They weren’t allowed to do that to Jack, not his Jack. He couldn’t lose him. Not like that. Not ever.

And then the most amazing thing happened, all of that fear and all of that love and all of that rage… was reflected right back at him.

Jack gasped. And then he smiled.

“Jack…?”

“Later,” Jack said, his eyes shiny with emotion. He handed the scissors to Daniel and struggled to stand.

Daniel forced himself to his feet and helped Jack up. He pulled Jack in close. “There might not _be_ a later.”

Jack’s hand moved to cup Daniel’s bearded cheek. “There has to be a later.”

Daniel felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time: Hope. He kept his eyes on Jack’s, felt himself lick his lips and lean in just a little.

Before he had a chance to follow through though, there was an explosion from outside that rumbled the ground and threatened to collapse the crevasse.

“We have to get out of here,” Jack said.

“Jack… I …”

”Move it Daniel! You do not get to die on this rock!” Jack pushed him towards the entrance when another explosion sent down a rain of dust and small rocks.

Daniel felt one of the larger rocks hit his head, he saw stars for a moment but he forced himself to keep going, keep moving, get out before the next explosion.

As soon as they were out in the open air, it was apparent that they were in a war zone. Dozens of the insectile creatures were all around them, climbing on the rocks themselves, covering the way to freedom. It seemed as though they were being lead there, all of the aliens were turned around, facing out.

A staff blast whizzed past Daniel’s head, missing him by millimeters and scorching the edge of the opening behind him. “I don’t like this planet,” he said to Jack, who had already started wielding the scalpel on the preoccupied aliens.

“You’re tellin’ me,” Jack returned, kicking aside a still-twitching body.

The two men worked back-to-back so that none of the aliens could get close enough to hurt them. They couldn’t move far, both injured and Daniel struggling for breath; but they were able to kill a few aliens before Jack tracked something in the air.

“GRENADE!” he shouted and pulled Daniel as quickly as he could to the other side of the rocks just in time to be out of the way of the blast. “Standard issue,” Jack said.

“It’s the SGC,” Daniel said with a smile. “SAM!? TEAL’C?!”

They called out for their teammates over the sounds of the battle raging around them. It brought more attention from the bugs closest to them. As one a group of five turned to them and started advancing.

They fought as hard as they could, swinging their tiny weapons. But the bugs were smart, and they were well organized. Daniel took a hard-swung pincer to the side of his head and fell to the ground. Jack was hit in his injured knee and fell with a shout.

Jack didn’t realize that Daniel was unconscious until he was on the ground beside him. He kicked wildly with his uninjured leg and backed himself up to defend Daniel's unconscious form. The thought struck him, rather hard, that he really should have kissed Daniel when he had the chance. Now he was going to die without ever knowing what that felt like.

And then the heads of the small squadron exploded one-by-one in quick succession.

Jack smiled broadly when he saw who was standing there. “T, buddy, great timing!”

“Are you well O’Neill?” Teal’c moved his staff to resting position and Jack realized that all of the bugs were dead.

“Been better,” he said honestly. “Be one hell of a lot better back on Earth.”

Teal’c gave that enigmatic smile and head tilt. “They are over here!” he called out. And then kneeled down beside Jack and checked Daniel’s injuries.

There was the sound of several small engines and then ATVs came into view and stopped not far from where Jack and Daniel were.

Carter came running over, her face was streaked with dirt and the blood of the bugs, but she was smiling and securing her P-90.

“Nice job there, Carter.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Valet to the gate is a nice touch.”

She rolled her eyes only slightly as she helped a medic to secure Daniel to a backboard and lift him onto the rescue sled.

“Hop on Colonel,” Nurse Fred Tsumi said as he laid another back board on the ground.

“I don’t need that.”

The nurse just looked at Jack’s mangled knee. Jack hadn’t felt it when it happened, but his knee was bloody.

Jack sighed and hoisted himself onto the bright yellow board. “How’s Daniel?”

“They’re working on him,” Nurse Tsumi said vaguely.

“We need to go now!” Carter called out.

Jack’s heart was in his throat as he was hoisted onto the other rescue sled. Teal’c sat beside him on the rail of the sled, one large hand resting comfortingly on Jack’s shoulder even though his eyes were constantly scanning their surroundings.

It took about twenty minutes to get back to the gate; to Jack it felt like three hours.

~~~

“What happened to him?” Doctor Werner was asking as soon as Jack and his ATV escort rematerialized through the gate.

“Massive trauma to the right knee,” Nurse Tsumi said quickly. “Other cuts, abrasions, hematomas, minor trauma to every other joint, possible internal injuries.”

“I’m fine,” Jack said, “where’s Daniel?”

“He’s being prepped for surgery, Doctor Frasier is taking good care of him, don’t you worry. Right now, we’re taking you to get an MRI and then you’re being prepped for surgery,” Werner answered. He pulled out a syringe, “This will take the edge off the pain and help to relax you.”

The meds hit his veins and he was asleep within seconds.

~~~

Jack floated back to consciousness on the fuzzy edge of morphine and with an overly-dry mouth.

“Welcome back Colonel,” was said, voice sweet as southern honey.

“Hey,” he said with a smile.

“I can see you don’t need another dose. How back are you?”

Jack thought about the answer for a moment, but then he was distracted by the light refracting off of his saline drip.

“Why don’t you get some more sleep?” Janet patted his hand gently.

“Wait…” Jack pulled his disjointed thoughts together. “Daniel? How’s Daniel?”

“He’s in recovery. We were able to save his leg, but the wound went septic, so no promises it’ll stay that way.”

 _He can’t die,_ Jack thought. _I love him._

“I know you do, Colonel. Now get some sleep, we’ll talk later.” Janet double checked on her way out to make sure she knew which nurses were on duty for the Colonel and Dr. Jackson.

~~~

 

The next time Jack opened his eyes, his mind was a little clearer and the world was a little less bright. His own heartbeat was beating a steady rhythm through the monitor and he was in a regular bed. Carter was sitting on a stool beside him, her laptop open on his hospital tray; she was typing away, engrossed in her own world. But she knew when he hit fully awake.

She looked at him, her eyes slightly blurry, focused and smiled a small smile. “Good morning, sir.”

“Morning, Carter. Did I miss anything important? How’s Daniel?”

She handed him a small cup of water to soothe his obviously-parched throat and her smile turned awkward. “You’ve had a double knee replacement.”

“That explains the drugs.”

She suppressed a small laugh. “You were also dehydrated and had some internal injuries. They removed your spleen.”

“How long was I out?”

“About twenty hours.”

“And Daniel? Janet said something about him going septic?”

She heaved a deep sigh. “Teal’c is sitting with him. He’s been upgraded to stable and Janet’s optimistic that they’ll be able to save his leg. But if you need more details, you’ll have to talk to her.”

Jack felt like there was a rather large land mammal sitting on his chest. The words _upgraded to stable_ kept running on a loop through his head. Daniel could have died. Daniel nearly did.

Carter, never one who was good with emotions, chewed her lip. “Actually, I should go get Janet anyway, let her know you’re up.” She beat a hasty retreat.

It wasn’t quite twenty seconds before Janet came in looking tired, but smiling. She was wearing scrubs and sneakers rather than her preferred class Bs; that was never a good sign. “How are you feeling, Colonel?”

“I want to see Daniel.”

“And you will, in just a minute.” She closed the door and they were alone in the room. “He’s stable, Teal’c is sitting with him.”

“Carter said that.”

“I was able to save his leg. Who debrided the wound?” She picked up his chart and looked it over.

“I did, with a headlamp, a scalpel and a prayer.”

“You did a good job.”

“He went _septic_ ,” Jack argued.

“He wouldn’t have made it two days if you hadn’t; I saw the size of the injury. And to debride in the field, without the proper tools… you pulled off a hat trick, Colonel. He’s lucky to be alive.”

“And yet, he was critical when he came in,” Jack argued.

“You both were. You had both been held hostage for six weeks and three days. You were tortured, you were both dehydrated and malnourished and covered in grime when you came through the gate. Daniel had a septic wound and head trauma as well as fluid in his lungs.

“Doctor Werner found your kneecap in three different places,” she continued, “and it took him half an hour to drain your knee enough to operate. Both your tibia and your femur on your right leg were fractured from compression – either during your torture or your escape. One of your ribs had been broken and chipped; the chip had punctured your spleen. You were lucky, it was less than half an inch from your lung; also it seems like the sliver didn’t fully puncture the spleen until the last fight and you didn’t have time to bleed out. When Doctor Werner realized the extent of the damage, he ordered a full body CT scan for you; there are signs of other breaks, healing on their own, and stress and swelling on every joint in your body. The vertebra in your neck show that you were nearly killed from your head being twisted until your neck broke.”

Jack was cringing at the clinical recounting of his torture. “I know, I was there.”

“I’m telling you not to beat yourself up over this. You’re both alive.” She made a few notes in his chart and then hung it back on the end of the bed. She moved Carter’s computer and sat on the stool. “And now that I know you’re awake and cognizant, there are things we need to talk about.”

“I know what you’re going to say,” he cut her off.

“You do?”

“I knew back on the planet. They killed my knee and I knew it. I’m never going through the gate again. This shiny new titanium is to stay planet-side.”

She nodded deeply. “How do you feel about that?”

“Ask me a week or two after rehab when I’m going stir crazy.”

Janet sighed. “I hope Daniel takes the news as well.”

“What? I thought he’s going to be fine?”

“You’re still technically his team leader, so I can tell you this. I also know you’re the one he’ll talk to about this when he’s ready. The reconstruction to his femoral artery was done with an alien material and has left a weak spot on his arterial wall. Compounding that, I don’t know if his thigh muscle will ever fully recover. There is every likelihood that he will walk with a cane for the rest of his life. The possibility that he will ever recover fully enough to be cleared for gate duty registers in the millions to one.”

Jack felt like he’d been shot. He couldn’t compute the new data. It was one thing to know that he would never be going through the gate again; hell, he’d been expecting it and was frankly surprised it had taken this long in coming. But Daniel… Daniel could never answer the questions of the universe if he was stuck on Earth.

“There’s one other thing,” Janet said. “When you were partially under sedation?”

“If I was inappropriate to any nurses, I apologize and blame your Really Good Drugs.”

Janet smiled at that. “Thankfully you weren’t quite as… handsy this time as you’ve been known to be. You called out for Daniel a bit more than usual.”

“We were stuck there together,” he covered quickly.

Janet just smiled that smile that told him off for thinking she was an idiot. “You were vocal about some other things that you never would have said had you been in your right mind.”

Jack couldn’t understand why his heart monitor was beeping so fast when he was sure his heart had stopped in his chest.

“Relax Colonel… Jack. I wanted you to be made aware of that fact only so that you would understand why you were quarantined while in recovery. Daniel has also been quarantined; however since Teal’c is a Jaffa we can be fairly certain that he’s safe to be in there with Daniel.”

“And Carter? She was in here.”

“You were safe by that point, though it is possible that the scuttlebutt between two female friends might have inferred the reason for the quarantine; and that she then decided, for her own health, that it was a better idea if Teal’c, with his immunities, were to be the one to sit with Daniel.”

Jack smiled. Janet had spoken to Carter off the record and Carter had told Teal’c. Once Jack was no longer babbling like an opium addled poet, Carter came in to sit with him to make sure he wasn’t alone and her career was safe. Teal’c, who wasn’t technically a part of the US military, was sitting with Daniel, so it didn’t matter what he said. But Jack also knew it was a good bet Daniel had said he loved Jack too.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, hoping that Janet didn’t notice the blush creeping up his neck.

She smiled and gently squeezed his hand. “The ortho will be in tomorrow to start your PT. The General will want your report as soon as you’re up to it; he’ll take verbal at first just so that he can write the official report on Johansson.”

Jack nodded. “I’m good whenever he has a minute.” It definitely wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but it was something that had to be done.

Janet sighed but gave him the understanding smile. “I want you sitting up on the side of the bed, legs dangling. I’ll send in Nurse Tsumi to give you a hand, I’ll even make sure he’s got The Big Needle.” She winked and walked out of the room.

~~~

Jack’s physical therapy started in earnest the next day. And that was fine, Jack had been expecting it. What he wasn’t expecting was that he would have to go to Academy while Daniel was still in a fevered sleep. He understood the why of it, with every joint in his body having undergone trauma and the extent of reconstructive titanium in his legs, he had to go to an inpatient rehab; there was no way that he could recover at the SGC or at home. But the idea of leaving before Daniel was awake – let alone out of the woods… he hated it.

Doctor Sanchez was the head ortho over at Academy, he was also the only ortho who had clearance for the SGC. He greeted Jack with a big smile, having done his last knee surgery as well as the replacement. “Colonel O’Neill, how are you feeling? Ready to go?”

 _Not in the slightest,_ he thought.

“Don’t worry, Colonel, you’re a tough guy, you’ll be fine.”

And just like that Jack was pulled away when all he wanted to do was run toward. Daniel was on the other side of the infirmary in a clean room. It was only his supreme trust in Teal’c and Janet that forced him to take the few shaky steps with his walker to the wheelchair.

It broke his heart, but the sooner he was better, the sooner he could come back and be there for Daniel.

~~~

A week later, Jack was ready to take his crutch and gore Sanchez with it. The man was a sadist. That was the only explanation. Why else would the doctor manipulate Jack’s legs asking “does that hurt” and then when he got an answer in the affirmative, do it again _harder_?

Jack was going to kill him. And it would not be a pretty death. No simple garroting with that stupid cord that held the pen to the clipboard. No way. That was too good for him. Being gored by the blunt end of a forearm crutch though? Yeah, that sounded about right.

Jack was laid out, flat on his back on a therapy table while Jensen, physical therapist and evil henchman of Sanchez, was manipulating his legs.

“Careful, he looks ready to start swinging.”

Jack opened the eyes he hadn’t realized were closed and looked up to the upside-down face of Daniel Jackson. He felt his own face split into a huge smile. “Daniel!” He reached up and felt tension leave him when Daniel took his hand in what would appear to anyone else to be a simple handshake. Jack dismissed Jensen rather rudely, but he didn’t care. He sat up and got a good look at Daniel.

His hair was very short, like it had been shaved in the infirmary, but it was growing back; he hadn’t shaved the beard, but instead trimmed it. He was a little too thin, but that just enhanced the short hair and beard to make him look like some tragic, romantic poet. There was a weariness behind his eyes, but he smiled when Jack took away the four-pronged cane and pulled him down to sit on the therapy table.

Jack didn’t care who saw, he pulled Daniel into a tight hug. “How are you?” he asked when he pulled away.

“Better,” Daniel said in the same dismissive tone he used for _fine_. “How… how about you?”

“You mean besides going slowly nuts at the hands of sadistic physical therapists?”

Daniel smiled a little at that. “Yeah, besides that.”

“Could be worse.”

They sat there for a moment in awkward silence.

“You wanna go for a walk?” Jack asked.

“Can you?” Daniel returned.

Jack smiled as he picked up his forearm crutches. “I have accessories.” He gave Daniel a soft smile. “And don’t tell anyone…” Jack looked around suspiciously and whispered, “we match.”

Daniel did smile at that. “Surgical grade aluminum looks good on you.”

Jack felt himself blush. Then he threaded his arms into the crutches and pushed up to his feet with only a small wince. “Shall we?”

Daniel sighed, but he picked up his cane and levered himself up into a standing position.

“Colonel?” Jensen called out.

“Just taking a lap.”

The therapist nodded and turned back to his other patient.

The spring had truly set in Colorado, the air was still crisp, but warm and finally didn’t smell like snow. The sun was bright and Daniel stood there for a moment, soaking it up.

“I was underground way too long,” he said at last.

“Yeah,” was all Jack could say. He mentally calculated the route through the massive courtyard that would keep them in the sunshine the whole time.

They made their way in silence for a while.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said at last.

Jack stopped short, nonplussed. “Why?”

Daniel just looked at him, and then his gaze tracked down to the crutches.

Jack sighed, shifted his weight and reached out to put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Hey… no, look at me. This isn’t you. This has been coming since I was twenty seven. My unit parachuted into a war zone. My chute didn’t open in time and I landed hard. My first knee surgery was less than a month later, but by that point the damage was done. And I’ve been running on them for a long time now; eating dirt out there and falling on hard stone every time those bastards made me kneel. And yeah, the last straw was the last mission, but that going to hell in a hand basket had nothing to do with you. It’s not your fault.”

Daniel remained silent, but the look he had clearly stated that he didn’t buy it.

“Oh for cryin’ out loud. C’mere.” He shifted his hand and pulled Daniel in to him; hugging him hard. Jack couldn’t deny that something inside of him uncoiled when Daniel returned the hug; he’d been so worried that he had been lying back on that planet when he promised Daniel that there would be a later.

“I was so scared,” Daniel whispered.

“Me too.” Jack pulled out of the hug before anyone watching would think it had changed to something inappropriate. “But we’re back now. And… we know.”

Daniel blushed and looked off to the side, suddenly shy. “Yeah, we do. And… you’re… uh, you’re sure that it’s… what you want?”

Jack smiled wolfishly and blatantly looked over Daniel’s body. “Oh yeah.” He shifted back onto his crutches and nodded that they should continue.

A few minutes later Daniel mumbled, “Only took us seven years to get on the same page.”

“Eight,” Jack corrected. “But who’s counting.”

“Apparently you. And you count the year I was… ya know… dead?”

“I still loved you, Daniel.”

Daniel stopped short this time.

Jack turned slowly. “I was planning the first time I said that to be… romantic… at the very least, planned.”

Daniel started to smile and it bloomed across his face until he was beaming with it. “Not the worst plan you’ve ever had.” He looked around to make sure they weren’t overheard. “And, just so you know, it’s reciprocated.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

The rest of the walk, during which they brushed shoulders quite often, Jack felt full of hope and love and pride. He may as well have had wings on his feet.

~~~

Three weeks of the most extreme sexual frustration he’d ever experienced, and Jack was released from the hospital. The swelling in all of his joints was down and his breaks were nearly healed. His post-op was ahead of schedule and he could even do stairs without too much trouble. He had his staples removed that morning along with the wound care spiel that hadn’t changed since he was nineteen.

He’d pulled Daniel aside in the halls later. “They’re springing me today.”

Daniel looked shocked for a moment. “That’s good, congratulations.”

Jack wanted to reach out and touch, but the nurses were doing their rounds and there were eyes everywhere. There were always eyes everywhere, that was the problem. “I’ll still be back for PT, three times a week.”

“Don’t apologize, you’re working your ass off. I’m just jealous that you go home, that’s all,” Daniel lied with a small smile.

Jack smirked, “You’re gonna miss my ass.”

“You can bet your ass,” Daniel said softly.

Jack smiled wolfishly, “I have to say, I like where this conversation is going.”

“Unfortunately it’s not going anywhere in this place. Sometimes I really hate the military.”

“You could… come help me pack.”

“You don’t have anything but a few pairs of sweats.”

“Don’t overthink it Daniel.”

A sizzling spark registered in Daniel’s eyes when he realized what Jack was saying.

“Come help me pack?”

Daniel nodded and whetted his lips.

Once they were in Jack’s room, Jack made a bit of a show of mentioning that he had some things hanging on the back of the door. He closed the door and leaned against it, crooking a finger in Daniel’s direction.

Daniel was smirking and blushing just a bit as he came over to where Jack was. He stopped well within Jack’s personal space.

Jack reached up and cupped Daniel’s face, running his thumbs over the edge of Daniel’s beard, toying with the texture of flesh and beard. “I’ve never kissed anyone with a beard before,” he admitted.

Daniel leaned in a bit more, one hand on the door, one on Jack’s hip. “I’m a big fan of learning.”

Jack smiled and leaned in, closing the distance between them and meeting Daniel in a hungry kiss. The beard tickled and numbed the flesh around Jack’s lips, but the taste and the feel of _Daniel_ brought every cell in his body to life.

Daniel gave a tiny little whimper and wrapped his arms tightly around Jack’s waist, bringing their bodies into full contact.

Jack felt Daniel's dick, hard and ready, cradled against his own and growled like a dog in rut. One hand carded into Daniel’s too-short hair and the other traveled down to grope and grab at Daniel’s firm ass. It was awesome, it was glorious, it was everything he had always dreamed of. Jack felt like he was knocking on heaven’s door.

And then he realized that that wasn’t it at all. Someone was knocking on _his_ door. Right behind his head.

“I can’t catch a break,” Jack muttered, leaning his forehead against Daniel’s.

“Colonel O’Neill?” one of the nurses called.

“Just a second!” Jack returned.

Daniel was laughing, he pulled away and covered his mouth, trying to stifle the sounds of his outright gaffaws.

“What the hell is so funny?” Jack demanded in a whisper.

“That….” He stopped and caught his breath. “That hasn’t happened to me since I was sixteen.”

Jack couldn’t help the quick laugh at that. Back in control, he opened the door to see the nurse. “Sorry, I was, ah… stretching. Behind the door.”

“Uh huh. I have your discharge paperwork here.”

“Paperwork. I knew there was more paperwork.”

Daniel smiled and picked up his cane. “Jack, I’ll talk to you later.”

“You bet your ass.”

Daniel’s eyebrows shot up, but he walked out of the room.

~~~

Teal’c picked him up, and though it goaded Jack to know he wasn’t cleared to drive yet, he couldn’t complain too much when he walked out into the warm spring air and saw Teal’c standing by the truck in his ridiculously oversized cowboy hat.

“T, buddy!” Jack smiled broadly and even gave Teal’c a hug. “Good to see you!”

“It is good to see you as well, O’Neill. How is your recovery?”

“Ahead of schedule. Damn it.”

Teal’c’s lips twitched. “And how is Daniel Jackson?”

Jack tossed his pack into the back of the truck and maneuvered with his cane – trying not to put any actual weight on it – to back into the truck’s passenger side seat.

Teal’c was indeed impressed with how well O’Neill was moving, his research had been rather… broad on how quickly the average human would recover from such a procedure. He wasn’t sure if it was O’Neill’s need to be moving constantly or if it was simply what he called his Pure Irish Stubbornness, but either way, he was on the fastest end of the spectrum.

Once Jack was settled in the seat he answered as though Teal’c had asked a serious question. “He’s doing better.”

Teal’c buckled and started the engine. “I believe that is what is known as shrubbing.”

“Hedging. And you’re right. He hasn’t talked about not going through the gate anymore. And I know it’s bugging the hell outta him.”

“Is it not also bugging the hell out of you, O’Neill?”

“I won’t lie, it is. Mostly though it’s the idea of you guys going out there without me. I’m not gonna miss getting shot at, having ribbon devices turned on me, getting thrown into alien dungeons. I know I’m not gonna miss hearing the phrase _bow before your god_.”

“The Goa’uld do seem to enjoy that phrase above all others,” Teal’c agreed.

“What about you?”

Teal’c raised an eyebrow in question, not following the change in conversation.

“You and Carter are just as affected by this as Daniel and I are. How are you two holding up?”

Teal’c took a moment to gather his thoughts. “I believe that at the moment we are more concerned for the well-being of yourself and Daniel Jackson.”

“Now who’s hedging?” Jack challenged.

“You will be missed in the field. I for one, have rarely had the opportunity to work so closely, for such a long time with such a leader.”

“You can say that again.”

Teal’c nodded in acknowledgement. “You can rest easily, however, knowing that you have saved so many and accomplished more than I think you can know.”

Jack didn’t know what to say to that.

“Though I do believe that your next challenge will be no easier than your last.”

“And what’s that? Permanent desk duty?”

“Taking care of Daniel Jackson.”

Jack smiled, his heart hammering in his chest. “Noticed that, huh?”

“Indeed. And I wish you to know that should you decide against a duty to the desk, I shall offer my protection to Daniel Jackson.”

Jack couldn’t help the chuckle. “Don’t let Daniel hear you say that, he’ll take it as an insult. And don’t try to act like I don’t know you already do that for a few men and women on base; I would take _that_ as an insult.”

“I have never insinuated any such thing.”

Jack swelled with pride and love for his friend. “You never know, I might just retire from the Air Force and go consultant, make the good money.”

The rest of the drive was in companionable silence.

Carter’s car was in his driveway when they pulled up to the house at last. Jack saw that the lawn was mowed and the azaleas had been watered and couldn’t help the smile any more than he could help the feeling of warmth that filled him.

Carter met them at the door; she was wearing her grubbiest, oldest USAF sweatshirt and a pair of jeans with a hole in each knee. “I’m a terrible scientist,” she said in lieu of hello.

Jack and Teal’c both cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m pretty sure I just destroyed sentient life in your vegetable crisper.”

“Well,” Jack responded, “with the idea that the entire planet was made in seven days; I can only imagine what my fridge accomplished in ten weeks.”

“I’m going to scientist hell.”

“Nah. No scientist goes to hell. They don’t believe in it.”

“There is that. How are you feeling, sir?”

“Barely using the cane and cleared to do stairs. I won’t be running any marathons in the near future, but that’s ok, I didn’t have any planned. Well… not in ink.”

“Glad to hear it. I mean-“

“It’s ok Carter. I gotcha. And thanks, for taking care of the place for me.”

“Least we could do.”

“Well, I appreciate it.”

Carter smiled awkwardly. “Well, I have gutters that I have to clean out and a mountain of laundry at home; and Teal’c mentioned a Horde Raid.”

“I find that I quite enjoy internet battle.”

“Yeah. You kids have fun now.”

Carter danced in place for just a moment before she leaned forward and gave Jack a quick, mostly awkward, hug. “It’s good to have you back, sir.”

“Good to be back. Thanks for saving my ass… again.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she just nodded and lead the way out.

“Enjoy your evening, O’Neill,” Teal’c said with a bow.

“You too, buddy. Go… kill trolls… or whatever.”

“Alliance,” Teal’c corrected.

“Them too.”

After they were gone and Jack was alone, he found that he felt slightly lost. He hadn’t been wont for something to do in… years, but now there was no lawn to mow and no flowers to water and no fridge to clean; hell, Carter had even dusted.

He finally settled on doing some laundry, more because he felt like he really needed to be wearing jeans again. He’d been stuck in sweats for weeks and filthy –more than likely now-incinerated – BDUs for weeks before that.

He changed the sheets and checked what he still had in stock in the kitchen. Looked like Teal’c had shopped while Carter had cleaned. Any time that she shopped, she got him healthy stuff; Teal’c bought the Froot Loops and Twinkies.

There was nothing for him to do. He was bored.

He was just about to call for pizza –something he felt like he’d been sorely missing- when headlights rounded through the living room; someone had pulled into the drive.

Jack got to the door and saw Daniel getting carefully out of his Jeep, the sun bathing his freshly-shaved face. Just looking at Daniel, Jack felt like he could breathe again. He hadn’t realized how worried he’d been.

“I signed myself out,” Daniel announced.

“I thought Sanchez said that with a few more intense weeks he could up your prognosis to Not Totally Screwed?”

Daniel walked up to the porch, finally at ease with the cane, and stopped in Jack’s personal space. “He was just trying to stay positive, when I grilled him he changed his tune. Hope you don’t mind the cane.”

“Not a bit,” Jack said truthfully.

“Besides,” Daniel smiled with a flare of passion in his eyes, “I think I like the idea of being totally screwed.”

Jack pulled Daniel to him in a quick, hard kiss. “Get inside.”

Daniel brushed his entire body against Jack’s on the way in.

Jack had a quickfire of lust race through his veins as he followed Daniel into the house.

Daniel was simply walking down the hallway towards the bedrooms.

Jack followed without saying a word.

Once in Jack’s dimly-lit bedroom, Daniel started stripping, towing off his shoes and kicking them away, then leaning his cane against the tall dresser. By the time Jack came into the bedroom, Daniel was throwing his shirt vaguely towards the chair.

Jack smiled, reaching for the hem of his teeshirt, enjoying the hell out of Daniel’s show. “Clearly you think that foreplay is overrated?” Jack said.

“Not at all. I just think that seven years of it is enough. Don’t you?”

Jack smiled and walked the two steps to where Daniel was half naked and waiting for him. He cupped Daniel’s face in his hand and took half a second to revel in the difference of a shaved face. “I was just getting used to the beard.”

“Says the man who shaved before he left the infirmary,” Daniel returned, his hands caressing Jack’s chest, playing with the hair.

“Hey, I’m military, I had to.” He smiled softly and said, “I like it though. You look like Daniel again.” He wound his arms around Daniel’s muscular frame and held him close.

“Starting to feel like him again too.” Daniel fitted himself perfectly along Jack.

“That’s good.” He nosed gently against Daniel’s neck and then kissed along his jaw.

“Tell me you want me,” Daniel said, brave and scared and willing to show weakness only to Jack; only ever to Jack.

“I do. You can feel how much,” he rolled his hips against Daniel’s causing just a tease of friction. “I want you all the time. There hasn’t been a moment… I’m not good at this.”

“Doing just fine if you ask me.” Daniel held just a little harder.

“I want so much right now… and I don’t know if my body will do what I tell it to.” Daniel wasn’t the only one showing his vulnerabilities, but Jack wasn’t scared, not when it was Daniel he was showing.

“There are no rules here, Jack. It’s just you and me. We’ve never been too good at rules anyway.

Jack huffed a small laugh against Daniel’s ear.

“If this is all we do… well… I’ll have a massive case of blueballs and will probably have to go jerk off at some point –“

Jack groaned at the mental image of Daniel laying back, his own dick in his hand, working it hard, body flushed under a sheen of sweat.

“-but it would be ok. Because it’s us. If there’s anything you don’t want to do, or feel like you aren’t healed enough to do… we’ll work around it.”

“Same here,” Jack said, licking along the shell of Daniel’s ear and nipping at the lobe.

“What do you want?” Daniel asked, kissing Jack’s shoulder.

“You. I want you. I always want you.”

Daniel started swaying his hips, seeking more friction. “I want you too. But I need specifics. And I think you do too.”

“I want to make love to you. I want to be inside of you. I want to come inside of you, even though I know it’s not gonna happen like that. I want to be covered with your sweat and your kisses and your come. I want to watch my dick disappear into your body. And I want you to love it.”

“You keep talking like that and you’re gonna be covered in my come right now.”

Jack chuckled, low and deep. “I just know that I can’t be kneeling right now. And if I want to take you… See, in my head… every time I’ve fantasized about this-“

“Have you?”

“Yeah. Quite a lot, actually.”

“I like that,” Daniel’s voice was soft and husky, thick with lust. “What did you see?”

“You, on your back; on my bed, spread out and hard and begging. And me, between your spread thighs, lining up and pushing into your body. Kissing you as I take you. Your arms around me, holding on, your fingers scratching my back.”

Daniel did just that; ran his nails down the length of Jack’s back.

Jack cried out, arched his body, and pushed his cock harder against Daniel. “Oh god!”

“Like that?”

Jack pillowed his head on Daniel’s strong shoulder and willed himself not to come. “Yeah… just like that. Maybe not so evil.”

That new, sexy chuckle of Daniel’s played through their bodies. “Couldn’t help myself.”

Jack grunted at that. “What about you? What did you have in mind?”

“Changes depending on my mood. Sometimes I would picture you taking me, soft and gentle like you just described. And sometimes I would picture you, on my bed, on all fours, your ass-“ he gripped Jack’s ass in both hands “-up in the air and begging for it. Does it bother you that I thought of topping you?”

“No,” Jack said, his voice barely audible.

“I know we’ve never talked about it before, for obvious reasons, but you have been with guys before, right?”

“Not many, just a couple,” Jack admitted. “And I haven’t ever bottomed. Never trusted anyone enough.”

“Oh.”

“I trust you though,” Jack clarified. He felt Daniel relax a bit in his arms. “What about you?”

“I’ve tried pretty much everything once. Some more than once. I like topping and bottoming, so if you don’t want to bottom, that’s ok. I love sucking cock.”

Jack’s whole body followed his dick and shivered at that thought.

“I want to do everything with you,” Daniel said easily. “Eventually. Right now, I just want you.” Daniel pulled back and kiss Jack properly. He seemed to just melt into it, his whole body melting against Jack’s as they devoured each other’s mouths. Their hands were exploring each other’s bodies, finding all those places that made the other gasp or shudder or stutter; all those secrets that only a lover knew, they wanted to discover them all.

Jack was so lost in the kiss that when he started to sway, he thought it was just the rhythm of them, but then he realized that his body was shaking with more than just passion. He pulled away gently. “Damn it, I can’t keep standing.”

Daniel smiled at him. “Go sit in your chair,” he nodded to the small armchair in the corner of the room; the one that had been covered with laundry before Jack’s little stretch of boredom earlier. “Which drawer has the lube?”

Jack pointed to the bedside drawer that had all of his hidden little naughties and made his way over to the chair.

“Lose the pants,” Daniel said before Jack sat.

A small race of dread went through Jack at that. His surgical scars were still red and angry, not smooth and pale, not attractive in the least. But this was _Daniel_ ; Daniel would never hold his scars against him, not even the new ones. Still, he saw Daniel notice when he turned around and limped over to where Jack was sitting.

Daniel too, had trepidations at showing his injuries. He knew that Jack knew about it and yet he was worried that Jack would think him somehow deformed; somehow _less_. But he swallowed that fear and pushed his pants down over his full cock and past his ruined thigh. He only relaxed when he saw that there wasn’t any judgment in Jack’s eyes, in fact there wasn’t anything but love and lust.

Daniel was naked before him, and it had never been truer for anyone Jack had been with; Daniel was naked and exposed and _beautiful_. He came over and moved his legs to either side of the chair where Jack was sitting, and there was not a choice involved when Jack leaned up and in and took Daniel’s full, red cock into his mouth without any warning.

“Oh Jesus fuck!” Daniel cried out, his head falling back, his hands going immediately to Jack’s shoulders, dropping the tube of lube in Jack’s lap. He was so suddenly and so unexpectedly surrounded by the wet heat of Jack’s mouth that he had to reach down to the base of his cock, reach down in front of Jack’s face, and clamp down or come right there. He had never, in his wildest dreams imagined that Jack would just… suck his cock like that. And Jack was _good_ , he held Daniel’s balls down away from his body, helping him to not come, not yet; but his mouth was wicked and sinful and miraculous. “Ok, seriously, stop or I’m going to come right now and I want to come on your cock,” Daniel said, all in one breath.

Jack pulled away, entirely pleased with himself. “You think you’re the only one who likes to suck dick?”

Daniel growled as he lowered himself into Jack’s lap. Jack took his weight halfway down; and it was a good thing because Daniel’s bad leg was already protesting the strange angle. “I am not complaining, believe me,” Daniel said, his breath panting in his chest. “But we only get one shot at our first time. And I don’t plan on ruining it by coming like a virgin on prom night.” He settled his weight on Jack’s thighs, careful not to put any weight on the still-healing incisions, and made sure his own angry new scar was going to last the night without hurting too much.

Daniel settled, pressing his forehead against Jack’s and they just sat there for a minute, breathing each other’s breath, kissing occasionally and calming enough to take the edge off. Jack took the time to really _look_ at Daniel, look like he’d never been able to let himself for fear of being found out, called out, kicked out. He smiled when he realized that he had the chance to walk away from it now, turn and walk and never have to worry about frat regs again. He picked up the lube and kissed Daniel harder, signaling that they were done cooling off, it was time to heat things up again. As he coated his fingers with the lube he whispered, “How much prep do you need?”

“It’s been a while,” Daniel answered.

Jack nodded and dove in for another kiss even as he reached between them and under Daniel to find the entrance of his body. He circled the tight pucker with his finger and mimicked the movement with his tongue in Daniel's mouth.

Without warning, Daniel’s body seemed to get with the program and took Jack’s probing digit into itself with almost no pressure. Daniel called out as his body bucked, loving the invasion. “More,” he demanded.

“I thought you said it’s been a while?”

“It has, but it doesn’t matter. Open me fast, Jack, I need you inside of me.”

“Yes sir,” Jack said with a sultry smile. He pulled his finger nearly the whole way out and pushed back in with two, making Daniel curse and claw his back.

“Where’d you put the condom?” Jack asked into Daniel’s mouth.

“Didn’t,” Daniel answered as he started to ride Jack’s fingers.

Jack stilled. “What do you mean, didn’t?”

Daniel just smiled his most dangerous smile. “I mean I didn’t get one when I was over there. You said you wanted to fuck me bare; I want that too.”

“Daniel-“

“I’m clean, you’re clean, we just bled all over each other for six weeks. I want you. It’s the only thing I’ve never done. And I want it with you.”

Jack didn’t realize his hand was moving again.

“Tell me it’s not ok and-“

“No… I mean I should say that… but… Oh just shut up.” He pulled Daniel to him by the hair and kissed him hard.

It was almost no time at all before they were rearranging slightly and Daniel was lowering himself onto Jack’s cock so slowly Jack thought he was going to die.

“Watch, Jack,” Daniel panted. “Watch your cock disappear into me. Watch my body swallow you up.”

Jack did look down and the sight was nearly his undoing. His eyes were proving, making fact, that this was _Daniel_ who he was sliding into. The tight flesh that was opening to him and letting him in, the heat that was welcoming his bare flesh, that was Daniel.

When he was finally fully seated, Daniel held Jack close, kissed him with gentle, open-mouthed kisses that tasted like salt and love from the sweat that they were both covered in.

“This isn’t gonna last,” Jack apologized, it couldn’t, not when it felt this good to his flesh and his heart and his soul.

“Me neither. Don’t care. It’s you. I love you Jack.” Daniel rolled his hips, riding Jack gently, loving the burn and the pull and the fullness of _Jack_ inside of him.

“Love you too, Daniel. Love you so damned much.”

“Show me.”

They were fast and frantic even as they were barely moving; it was all in the intensity of the moment, the connection between the two of them, the final joining of their hearts and their minds through the joining of their bodies.

Jack learned that Daniel keened and growled and grunted and panted; that all of those amazing words in all of those multitude of languages deserted Daniel when they weren’t needed. Jack learned a new language in that though.

Daniel learned that Jack swore like a drunken sailor; he swore worse than when he stubbed his toe, Daniel hadn’t thought that possible. But there was something else beneath the “fuck, fuck my cock, so damned good, shit you’re amazing, my amazing cock slut,” there was something positively gentle to it. Daniel learned that Jack was a never-ending puzzle and he couldn’t wait to be challenged everyday for the rest of his life.

And when they exploded into orgasm, both without words, they said everything that they needed to.

Afterwards, Jack held Daniel, covered with his sweat and come and kisses, letting their breath return to normal before pulling out. He allowed himself to remain joined with Daniel, to hold onto that connection until Daniel’s eyes opened and met his own; he realized then that they were always connected.


End file.
